Japanese Financial Giant Nomura Launches Digital Asset Custody Service

Japan looks to have a brand new crypto player – with big-hitting financial group Nomura launching digital token-related business activities.

Per Japanese media outlet CoinPost, the Japanese company has teamed up with crypto firms Ledger and CoinShares to launch B2B “digital assets” custodial services with a Jersey-based platform named Komainu.

Nomura provides retail and investment banking services in Japan, as well as securities and asset management. Like most larger Japanese companies, it also has a number of smaller subsidiaries active in other non-core areas, including healthcare. Outside Asia, it is perhaps best known for acquiring most of the Lehman Brothers’ Asian-based business operations in 2008.

Jersey is part of the Channel Islands, an offshore British territory that has become a tax haven for many international companies – and many crypto ventures.

Its masterminds say that the Komainu platform can interoperate with the IT platforms of most financial institutions.

The operators added that they would only agree to handle tokens that comply with anti-money laundering and compliance tests but have not yet indicated if major cryptocurrencies services will be provided.

However, CoinPost suggests that the chances of crypto compatibility are very good, as both of the Nomura partners in Komainu specialize in the field of cryptocurrency. Ledger provides cryptocurrency custody services for hard wallets and institutional investors, and CoinShares is active in cryptocurrency fund management and investment advisory services.

The Nomura move is significant when viewed against the backdrop of the growing number of crypto-keen financial giants in the East Asian nation. Ripple partner SBI has a crypto mining arm as well as a crypto trading platform, while the Monex Group operates the Coincheck exchange. Financial data service FISCO also operates the Zaif trading platform.

E-commerce giant Rakuten, which also has e-pay and financial services interests, operates its own Rakuten Wallet exchange, while chat app and e-pay operator Line operates Bitmax. Business giant SoftBank operates Yahoo Japan, the largest stakeholder in the Taotao exchange.

The vast majority of the nation’s big securities firms are also looking to launch securities token offering (STO) operations – Nomura included.